A wire bonder (i.e., wire bonding machine) may form wire loops between respective locations to be electrically interconnected. Exemplary wire bonding techniques include ball bonding and wedge bonding. Steps in a ball bonding application include: bonding a free air ball to a first bond location (e.g., a die pad of a semiconductor die); extending a length of wire continuous with the bonded free air ball to a second bond location (e.g., a lead of a leadframe); and bonding the wire to the second bond location, thereby forming a wire loop between the first bond location and the second bond location. In forming the bonds between (a) the ends of the wire loop and (b) the bond sites (e.g., die pads, leads, etc.) varying types of bonding energy may be used including, for example, ultrasonic energy, thermosonic energy, thermo-compressive energy, amongst others.
Wire bonding machines have also been used to form wire contacts and interconnects having a free end for a number of years. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,211 to Khandros discloses forming such conductive contacts using ball bonding techniques. However, conventional techniques of forming such wire contacts and interconnects suffer from a lack of consistency (e.g., height consistency, shape consistency, etc.) and undesirable shapes of the wire contacts and interconnects.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide improved methods of forming wire interconnect structures.